


And if you're still breathing

by WanderingJane



Series: and if you're still breathing [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Family, Friendship, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-11 06:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4424282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingJane/pseuds/WanderingJane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU for War Games and Under the Hood: Jason comes back earlier, just after Steph's been fired from being Robin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Daughter's "Youth."

He finds her in one of the seedier Gotham neighborhoods, legs dangling over the edge of an apartment building, cape bunched up in a pool next to her. If he'd been a little less overwhelmed by rage, he might have noticed the defeated curve of her shoulder, how low her head hung, how she was distracted enough that she didn't see the hooded figure sneaking up on her. 

But Jason Todd didn't notice any of this. All he sees is yet another person wearing a bastardized version of his suit.

"So, the bats replaced the replacement already?" he says as he approaches her, his voice too bright and cheerful to be sincere. The girl's head snaps up and she jumps to her feet with a speed he knows is the product of Batman's rigorous training. 

"Who are you?" the fake Robin asks. 

Jason takes another step toward her. "That would ruin the surprise," he says, smiling even though he knows she can't see it through his helmet. "And where's the fun in that?" 

The girl's small fists tighten in their green gloves. The stubborn tilt of her chin, and the way she squares her shoulders almost makes Jason laugh - until his eyes find the _R_ above her left breast and another dizzying wave of rage and despair makes him choke. 

They say anger is a hot, burning, all-consuming thing, but Jason finds that isn't true, not for him at least. His anger is cold, it's ice running through his veins, and right now, it's focused entirely on the blonde girl scowling at him from beneath her green mask. _His_ mask.

"You're not Robin," Jason hisses. 

"No, I'm not. Not anymore," she says, her eyes on the floor. Jason is, admittedly, a little thrown by the acknowledgement, but she continues before he can say anything, her voice growing hard. "But that doesn't mean I can't kick your ugly butt." 

She charges at him, flipping through the air with little grace but a lot of strength, and catches him by surprise with a powerful kick. 

Jason doesn't go down for long, and is back on his feet with a gun trained on not-Robin in a matter of seconds.

"You're fast," she says.

"No shit."

When she kicks the gun out of his hands with only a little struggle, he sees the barest hint of a smile cross her face before it vanishes again. 

"Robin's not supposed to be so serious, blondie. Where are the jokes, the comebacks, _the puns_?" He's not sure why the words slip out, but takes advantage of her momentary surprise to knock her to the ground. 

"Well since we already established that I'm not Robin," she says with a huff as she kicks him in the back of the knee and leaps to her feet, "I don't have to do anything. Besides, I'm not really in a quipping kind of mood." 

"So, what, you're just playing dress up? Can't say that I really like what you've done with the costume." 

"I don't think you have a right to be criticizing my sartorial choices since you look like a biker reject who got his helmet on backwards." Jason snorts out a laugh, more amused than offended, but still takes out his other gun. "And I'm not playing dress up. I _was_ Robin. For a little while, at least." 

"What happened? Big guy found someone he liked better? Replaced you just like -" 

"Hefiredme." Her words come out rushed, and surprise Jason into stillness, but it's the anguish on her face that even the mask can't hide that makes him lower his gun. 

There's a catch in his throat, and he coughs awkwardly to clear it. "Why?" he asks her. 

"I suck at following orders," she says with a shrug that's meant to look casual. _Aw, shit._ The gun starts to feel heavy in Jason's hand. He glares at it for a second before tucking it back into its holster. 

"Look -"

"Besides, I think he was just using me to make the other Robin - the one who came before me -jealous. He never thought I was good enough. It's always oh, Other-Robin was much stronger than you. Other Robin was so much better than you. Other Robin could do one-armed handstands for three hours without falling on his face. Not that I care. The jerk was cheating on me anyway."

That makes Jason pause. "You and Batman -"

"Eww, gross. No! Me and Robin. We used to go out. Or we're still going out? I don't know, it's complicated," she says before throwing a wild punch his way. The impact barely phases him, but Jason still grits his teeth and takes a swing at her.

This has gotten ridiculous. Jason Todd - former dead Robin, current Red Hood, soon to be scourge of the underworld - is listening to one of his replacements complain about her love life. 

"And I mean, I was just trying to save his life. I've worked just as hard as them." Each word is punctuated by another hit. Jason blocks them easily. Blondie is strong, but her agitation makes her hits messy and unfocused. She tries to kick him one last time before the fight drains out of her, and her shoulders slump. "It's not fair." 

Jason snorts, and the sound makes the girl's eyes narrow behind their mask. 

"What are you laughing at, jerk?" 

"Batman doesn't care about being fair, blondie," he says, bitterness coloring his voice. He can feel the words on the tip of his tongue, and he knows he shouldn't do it, he's saving the speech for Bruce, but - 

"I just wanted them to see that I was good enough, that I could do it," she says. The words die in Jason's throat. 

His sigh is exaggerated and over-dramatic, but he thinks it's appropriate seeing as his plans for a ruthless re-introduction to Gotham have been temporarily derailed by sixteen-year old girl. 

"You don't have to prove anything to them," he says, but the words come out stilted and awkward. The encouragement feels like a betrayal to what he's trying to do. But then he imagines her cut up and bleeding out, abandoned, alone, and afraid, and that old familiar icy rage starts to claw at him. His voice turns cold. "Trust me, you're better off without him." 

There's a pause, before she says, "You talk about him like you know him." Silence is the only answer she gets.

Jason's shoulder brushes against hers as he walks past her. His hand darts down to pick up his fallen gun, smirking when he sees the girl tense and move into a fighting stance. 

"Relax. I'm not gonna hurt you. Bigger fish and all that shit." Her face falls a fraction of an inch, and Jason isn't sure if he wants to laugh or yell at her. "I meant what I said. You should stay away from Batman." 

He's got on foot on the building's ledge when he pauses and looks over his shoulder. She's still standing there, fists clenched, her cape at her feet. He almost - _almost_ \- offers her a partnership, before he decides against it. As much as he'd like to see Bruce's face if the girl showed up at Jason's side, he doesn't think she'd be okay with the whole shooting-people-in-the-face part of his plan. But maybe he'll throw in a punch or two on her behalf when he confronts Bruce. For now, though, all he does is give her a smile she won't see. 

"See you around, blondie." He hears her footsteps behind him as she runs to catch him before he disappears into night. 

"Wait!" Both of his feet are on the ledge, and he has the grappling gun ready at his side, but Jason still pauses. 

"Who _are_ you?" 

"A ghost."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _No more dead Robins, okay?_

A laugh rings out. And another. An another. And _another_. The most unsettling thing about them is that they're never the same - sometimes it's a high, thin, rapid-fire _hehehehe_ ; sometimes it's a giggle; sometimes it's low and menacing and drawn out; sometimes a wild, hysterical _HAHAHA_. And sometimes, in his nightmares, it's accompanied by taunts and the dull _thud_ of a crowbar hitting flesh, the sickening _crack_ of bones breaking, his own pitiful wheezes as he tries not to choke on his blood and -

Jason shivers, hand tightening on his gun in reflex. His thumb twitches over the safety for a couple tense seconds before he sighs heavily and lets his arm drop back down, the gun a heavy, uncomfortable weight in his hand.

This isn't how it was supposed to go. Jason had a plan, a good one, too. So good that most of it had gone off without a hitch. He had gotten Bruce's attention, drawn him out, made the big revelation, cherished Bruce's surprised _"Jason?"_ It had been great. All that was left was to make Bruce _see_ , make him choose who would end the Joker's life. Here, atop a building in crime alley, right above where it all begin, is where it would end.

But he never showed.

On his way to break the Joker out of Arkham, Jason had found the Mad Hatter cornering some poor little blonde girl in an alley. Five missing teeth and a couple broken ribs later, Tetch had finally talked: Gotham's criminals came together for a "meeting," it went sour, and all hell had broken loose on the city. Dealing with several of Gotham's worst criminals happened on a nightly basis. Dealing with all of them at once turned the city into a war zone. 

Jason had been forced to hit the pause button on his revenge - something he really wasn't happy about - to lend a helpful, if violent, hand. And it was fun for a while, kicking the crap out of Gotham's scumbags. 

Until he'd gotten word that the Joker had escaped from Arkham. Again. And if this doesn't just prove Jason's point, he doesn't know what does. He'd dropped what he was doing, and tore through Gotham, nausea and rage burning a hole through his stomach. It was bad enough that the Joker had killed him, now he had to give him ulcer's too?

Jason had found him hiding out in an abandoned carnival, in the fun house. And for a while, swinging the crowbar like a baseball bat was satisfying, but the Joker had laughed and laughed and the sound mixed with the laughter from his nightmares and -

It was supposed to end tonight. Bruce was supposed to show up, to realize that Jason was right, that the Joker had to die. 

Jason shivers. In spite of the body armor and leather jacket, his body is wracked with tremors. And the Joker laughs again. Jason stomps toward him and duct tapes his mouth shut, but the Joker's wild, laughing eyes still mock him. 

"We've gotta stop meeting like this," a familiar voice says behind him. Jason doesn't jump - he _doesn't_ \- but his finger does twitch once against the gun's trigger. His shoulders tense for a few seconds, until he recognizes the voice and the fight drains out of him. 

He doesn't turn around or take his eyes off the Joker when he answers, "Fuck off, blondie. I'm not in the mood tonight." There's no vitriol in his voice, only exhaustion, and fuck, when did he start sounding so old?

"Thought we 'stablished that I sucked at takin' orders." She sounds off, her words slurred and quiet and wrong. It's what finally makes him take his eyes off the laughing clown at his feet and turn to look at her. 

She's not wearing her Robin suit anymore, and that makes her easier to look at, even if the purple get-up she's in is kind of an eyesore. 

"He send you?" Jason doesn't have to specify who 'he' is. 

"Nah. Saw your stupid shiny helmet and hadda come see you." She limps forward, keeping her thin cape wrapped around herself. Her hood's pulled down low over her face, so he can't see her expression when she finally notices the Joker lying on the ground in a bed of C-4. "What - "

His voice cuts in angrily, surprising even himself, "He was supposed to be here, you know, to watch the Joker die, to make him pay for all the shit he's done. I told him to come. I -" He inhales sharply through his nose. "But I guess he's got more important things to do." He hates how young and petulant he sounds, even though his voice is deep and no longer cracks the way it did when he was fifteen. He hates that he's as tall and big as Batman, hates the awful fucking white streak in his hair. He's a stranger is his own body, and it's almost as bad as the swirling green waters he chokes on in his nightmares. 

A wheezing sound makes him look up. Without him noticing, the girl managed to sneak around him and position herself between the Joker and himself. He'd be impressed if he weren't so pissed off. 

"Get out of the way," he says, pointing the gun at her. 

"Can't let you kill him," she says. 

"It's none of your business. This is between me, him, and the big guy."

"He's not gonna come," she says, making Jason flinch. Hearing it from someone else makes it hurt a hell of a lot more, makes it final. 

"He doesn't care."

He doesn't realize he's spoken out loud until she says, "City's on fire."

"What?"

"The city's on fire. Everyone's too busy dealing with this," she says, gesturing toward the chaotic mess engulfing Gotham, "To come rescue the Joker..." Her voice trails off at the end, and starts coughing hard enough that she almost tips over. 

She's hurt. Jason can tell she is, but he ignores it. Robin or not, someone will come looking for her soon enough. All that matters now is that Bruce chose Gotham over his own son. _No, not son._ Partner, soldier, but not son. Not anymore. Maybe not ever. The worst part is that Jason doesn't know whether he should be surprised or not.

He turns his gaze back on the girl."You know who I am." It's not a question.

"Should I?" She still hasn't moved, still shields the Joker with her body, but she hasn't tried kicking the gun out of his hand, either. 

Jason snorts. "Who are you s'posed to be anyway?"

"Spoiler," she says, " 'Cause I spoil crimes. Like I'm spoiling yours now."

"This isn't a crime, it's a public service." 

"Bullshit. You want Batman here to watch, so don't even try to tell me it's not personal." Jason staggers back, like she's hit him with one of her punches. The gun clatters to the ground. 

"You really don't know who I am?" He can't see her face, but the tilt of her head shows her confusion. "They didn't tell you?" 

"They don't tell me anything. Never tell me anything. Didn't...tell me what's going on tonight. Black Mask...I saw him with...went after them, didn't know there were so many of 'em." Jason stares at her for a while.

When he finally finds his voice, he says, "Thought I told you that you didn't have anything to prove."

"Wasn't trying to. Jus' wanted to help." Her voice cuts off again. Jason raises his hand in a pathetic attempt to comfort her, but she rushes forward and kicks him hard in the stomach. "Can't...let you kill 'im. Have to...Arkham." She's almost panting, but she still tries to kick him again. 

In the struggle, her hood falls back and her cape unfurls. Jason, who was reaching for his other gun, freezes. The stretchy black cloth that was supposed to cover her face is half-torn off, and what little can see of her face is a mess of bruised and swollen skin. Her costume is bloodied, and one of her arms is wrapped around her middle, like she's trying to hold herself together. _Fuck._

He glances away from her for a split-second, to the Joker, who's gotten most of the duct tape off. 

Spoiler sways and stumbles a little, her eyes dazed and unfocused, but she positions herself again between Jason and the Joker.

"You need to leave, get yourself to Leslie's clinic. It's not that far from here," Jason says through gritted teeth. 

Spoiler shakes her head. Her hair's falling out of its ponytail, the dull blonde strands matted with sweat and blood. 

Jason's fists clench hard enough that it hurts him even through his thick gloves. She's risking herself for the Joker. _The Joker._ The Joker whose finally gotten the tape off and is looking between Jason and Spoiler, laughing hysterically, apparently entirely unconcerned that he's tied to enough explosives to level the building. He could end it now, with the press of a button, with a bullet, a knife. He could avenge his own death, and make sure the Joker never hurt anyone again. 

But Bruce wouldn't see, wouldn't have to choose. 

He could always wait from him to show up. He has to eventually. 

Doesn't he? 

But no one's coming for the girl; they probably don't even know that she's out here. And she doesn't want to leave him with the Joker. _Fuck._ Foiled again by a sixteen-year old. _Double fuck._

"Come on, Spoiler. Let's go," he says, picking up his guns and tucking them back into their holsters. 

" 'm not goin' anywhere with you," she slurs, and raises her fists.

"Yeah, well, I can't let another Robin die, so tough." She freezes, and Jason's not sure if it's because he called her Robin or because she finally gets it, but when he moves toward her, she springs back into action. A punch - strong, considering how she can barely stand - connects with his chin. The helmet absorbs most of the impact, but it still takes him by surprise. 

He sighs, the weight on his shoulders making him hunch over, and he feels so much older than he is. "You showed me yours," he tells Spoiler, his fingers finding the familiar clasp at the back of his helmet. "It's only fair I show you mine." The helmet opens with a quiet _hiss._ He tugs it off and lets it fall to the ground, forgotten for the moment. 

He waits for her reaction, to see if she recognizes him, but the Joker interrupts. "Say, didn't I kill you already?" Jason grits his teeth, and reaches for the crowbar. "I did, didn't I?" The Joker bursts into gleeful, unhinged laughter that makes Jason's skin crawl. 

A quiet gasp. "Robin?"

"Not anymore," he says, echoing her words from before. "Figured someone oughta fill you in." Her eyes drift over to the Joker, and he watches as she finally _gets it_. "At least you know your Bat-History."

Spoiler kicks back hard, just once, but it's enough to knock the Joker out, to silence the fucking awful laughter. The force of it makes her wheeze and cough until she's gasping for air, one of her arms holding her middle gingerly. 

"Not that I don't appreciate you defending my honor, but let's get you out of here," he says, reaching towards her.

Spoiler jerks her head toward the Joker. "What about him?" 

Jason stops for a second, his arms held out mid-movement, and struggles to swallow down the surge of anger, to fight off the desperate desire to end it now. "Later," he says, finally getting the words out. "After I get you to..." his words die when he sees her up close, and the last bits of her mask fall off. He picks up his helmet, but doesn't put it back on. "No more dead Robins, okay?" 

She laughs, wincing at the same time, but lets him put his arm around her. Whether it's because she's too tired and hurt to care anymore, or because of their shared legacy, or maybe just because he didn't blow her off like everyone else, she still leans against his side and lets him guide her off the building. 

His bike's parked in the alley below, half-hidden in the shadows. Spoiler doesn't complain when he awkwardly puts his helmet on her head, probably too out of it to care. It looks good on her, even if the red clashes with the purple of her suit. 

"Hang on," he tells her. Her hands go around his waist, but the grip is too loose and he feels her coughing into his back. "Don't die on me, blondie," he says, the nickname bittersweet on his lips.

"Wasn't plannin' on it...jerk," she says. "Name's Stephanie, by the way."

Jason doesn't answer.

The streets are crawling with low-level criminals - thieves and drug-dealers, mostly - and it makes the ride to Leslie's a lot longer and a lot more dangerous. 

She's fading in and out of consciousness by the time they get to the clinic. Even swamped with too many patients, Leslie runs over to meet him when he walks in with Stephanie in his arms. 

"This way," she says, and guides him to a tiny, secluded space where it's safe to take off the helmet. Leslie hands it back to him and starts stripping Stephanie out of her costume. 

Jason moves to leave - he's done his part - has every intention of going back to the Joker, when a hand grasps his sleeve.

"Stay...please," Spoiler - _Stephanie_ \- says. Jason waits for a few moments before pulling out of her loose hold.

"Be right back," he mutters.

Outside, away from the screams and cries of the injured people inside the clinic, Jason takes out the cheap, disposable phone he'd bought a couple days earlier. His fingers dial the familiar number. He could do this a million different ways, could hack into whatever frequency they're is using, just like he'd done before when he wanted to get Bruce's attention. But instead he settles for the easiest one, the one that means he won't have to talk to Bruce or Dick or whoever else. 

The phone only rings twice before it's answered, and a comforting voice greets him.

Jason breathing is jagged, rough. He has to swallow twice before he says in a shaky voice, "Hey, Alf."

There's a tense, silent moment until - "Jason?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"I - Master Wayne mentioned - he implied that -" It's when the old man breaks off that Jason has to hold the phone away from him and scrub furiously at his cheeks. Fucking wind making his eyes water behind the flimsy domino mask.

He raises the phone to his ear again, and says in a terse voice, "Spoiler's hurt. She's at Leslie's. Tell Bruce." He hangs up before Alfred can answer, and flings the phone at the brick wall, watching it smash to pieces without any satisfaction. 

Revenge - making the Joker pay, making Bruce feel like shit about replacing him, showing him that the Joker has to die - that's all well and good, but hearing Alfred's voice, imaging how he must feel (because if one thing Jason's sure of, it's that Alfred loved him), that's something Jason had refused to think about. 

He drags his feet back into the clinic, and he swears he can hear the Joker's laugh following him inside.

He finds Leslie hard at work at Stephanie's side. Her gloves at bloodied, and her face haggard, but the determined set of her shoulders makes something ease in Jason's chest. 

"She gonna be okay?" he asks from the door.

"You're going to have to wait outside," is the only answer he gets. 

Jason crosses his arms across his chest and rests more weight against the doorframe. The doc shoots him an annoyed look, but turns her attention back to her patient. He's only there maybe ten minutes when the man of the hour shows up.

"How is she?" he asks Leslie, barely sparing a glance at Jason as he walks in.

"Outside, both of you." Jason and Bruce stare at each other, waiting for the other person to walk out first. "Out!" 

Jason rolls his eyes, and steps out into the hallway, Bruce at his heels. 

"Jason, I -"

"Save it."

"I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier -"

"I don't want to hear it." Yes, he does.

"- But we're in the middle of a situation."

Jason starts to walk toward the door when someone grabs at this shoulder. He bats the hand away, spins around, and pins Bruce to the wall, the cheap plaster cracking from the force of the impact.

"I know you're upset, but I can't allow you to -"

The door to Stephanie's room opens, and Leslie walks out, her face grim. Cold fear grips Jason's through and washes through him, settling into this limbs. No. She can't die, not another one, not again.

"Leslie," Bruce starts to say, but Leslie just holds her hand out to stop him.

"I am trying to save a girl's life - a girl that I'm sure you're responsible for bringing into this mess - and you two are gambling with it with your fighting. Either be quiet or take it outside." The door closes again, and Jason and Bruce are left alone together in the empty hallway. 

"Who?" Bruce asks when the silence gets to be too much.

"Black Mask," Jason says, looking up from his boots. "This is all your fault, you know. You shut her out. She had no idea what she was walking into because you didn't bother telling her what was going on." Jason can't resist one final dig. "If she dies, it's on you." 

Batgirl shows up a little while later. She's terrifying in the cowl that covers her entire face, but when she pulls it off, her eyes are wide and scared. 

"I need you out there," Bruce tells her, but Batgirl shakes her head.

"Steph..." she says, her voice impossibly quiet. 

Jason bangs his head against the wall a couple times. He should leave; there's no reason for him to stay other than the fact that Stephanie asked him to. She wouldn't even notice if he were gone...

He's got one eye on the door to Steph's room, the other on the end of the hallway that leads outside. Every other minute, he'll take another step away from Bruce and Batgirl, inching closer to the exit.

It's only when he sees a flash of red and green that Jason bolts. He can't deal with seeing the Replacement - his _and_ Steph's - tonight. He might wind up punching his face in or accidentally shooting his fingers off or something. 

When he makes it back to the rooftop where he left the Joker, he isn't even a little surprised to see him gone, and the explosives set to go off. The digital clock counting down the seconds - _eight, seven, six_ \- makes Jason's heart stutter and his limbs freeze before he snaps out of it and dives off the roof just in time.

Something like regret pools in his stomach, and he's mentally mapping all of the Joker's known hideouts until he remembers that Bruce is with the girl now, and killing the Joker's only worth it if Bruce is there to either do it himself or to watch Jason pull the trigger. 

Not yet. Not tonight.

Jason brushes off the debris and ash off his jacket, half-tempted to call it quits for the night, when he sees some of Black Mask's henchmen run by, their creepy masks shining under Gotham's lights.

Jason smiles.

-

She finds him, not on a rooftop or in an alley, but in a dinner a few weeks later. Jason's too surprised to do anything except watch her plop down in front of him and steal one of his fries. He'd heard she pulled through just fine, but it was a whole other thing to see her in person, out of her costume. 

She smiles at him, and it snaps him out of his daze.

"Hey!" he says, batting her hands away from his food. "Get your own."

"Rude," she counters with an even bigger smile and eats another of his fries.

"I'm not the one stealing food here," he says, but there's no bite in it. He fidgets in his seat and leans in closer. "You doin' okay."

"Yup." There's a thin, pink scar on her cheek. "So," she says conversationally, "I heard about Black Mask. Apparently, someone threw him out a window." She says it the same way someone might talk about the latest celebrity gossip. 

"You don't say," he says in mock surprise before adding, "You here to lecture me?"

She winces. "I'm not gonna pretend it's okay, what you do, because it's not. But I wanted to thank you for helping me, getting me to Leslie's and all that." Her hands twist a napkin around, and she looks around the mostly empty diner before looking back at him. She's dressed in soft pastels and her bright blonde hair doesn't have blood in it anymore, but there's tension around her eyes and mouth.

"Where's your boyfriend?" he asks her. 

She shrugs. "We're not together anymore. 'Taking a break,'" she says, making air quotes and scrunching her nose. "I mean, we're talking again, which is nice. And who knows, we might get back together someday, but right now, I just - I can't." 

"And here I was about to ask you to the clambake." 

"Shut up, jerk," she says, but she's laughing and stealing another of his fries and maybe it's the brightness of her hair or the fact that her eyes are a little dull, her smile a little forced, but Jason pushes his untouched milkshake toward her. 

She laughs. She laughs, and Jason doesn't think about the Joker's laugh or his oily voice, doesn't think about green water or Talia or Bruce or his replacement. 

"You were pretty great," he tells her. "All beat up and still taking a swing at me."

"Yeah, well, tell that to the rest of the Bats." 

"They still shutting you out?"

"Only a little. It's getting better. I think he feels guilty over what happened, like it's his fault."

"It is his fault." 

She shrugs. "Anyway, I should get going. See you around, Jason. Thanks for the fries and the shake."

Jason rolls his eyes, but still raises a hand in goodbye. His eyes find the scrap of paper she left on the table. A phone number followed by _"If you need anyone to talk you out of your murderous tendencies..."_

A small flash of annoyance makes him roll his eyes - he still has every intention of making the Joker pay - but he still laughs and toys with the card for a second. 

He pulls out his new phone and inputs the number, saving it under "Blondie," before he finds his only other contact and dials. 

"Hey, Alf - "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Joker's line, "Didn't I kill you already?" is from Batman: Arkham City.
> 
> Black Mask getting thrown out a window thing is from Batman: Arkham Knight. Whether or not he survives here is up to interpretation.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who read, left kudos, subscribed, and/or commented last chapter! I'm pretty sure my reaction was something along the lines of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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